The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Why we're still postmodern (whatever that means)

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Sean Illing talks with Stuart Jeffries, journalist and author of Everything, All the Time, Everywhere, about why postmodernism is so hard to define, and why — as Jeffries argues — it's still a very active presence in our culture and politics today. They discuss whether our desire should be understood as subversive or as a tool of capitalism, how postmodernism is inextricably linked with neoliberalism, and how to navigate our current culture of ubiquitous consumption and entertainment. What should we watch on TV: Boris Johnson's resignation speech, or the reality show Love Is Blind?

Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox

Guest: Stuart Jeffries, author; feature writer, The Guardian

References: 

  • Everything, All the Time, Everywhere: How We Became Postmodern by Stuart Jeffries (Verso; 2021)
  • "The post-truth prophets" by Sean Illing (Vox; Nov. 16, 2019)
  • The Postmodern Condition by Jean-François Lyotard (Univ. of Minnesota Press; 1979, tr. 1984)
  • Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard (Univ. of Michigan Press; 1981, tr. 1983)
  • Postmodernism: Style and Subversion, 1970–1990 (exhibition catalog, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; Sept. 24, 2011 – Jan. 15, 2012)
  • "Postmodernism: from the cutting edge to the museum" by Hari Kunzru (The Guardian; Sept. 15, 2011)
  • "You're sayin' a foot massage don't mean nothin', and I'm sayin' it does" by James Wood (Guardian Supplement; Nov. 19, 1994)


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    This episode was made by: 

    • Producer: Erikk Geannikis
    • Editor: Amy Drozdowska
    • Engineer: Patrick Boyd
    • Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall

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